UCLA basketball coach Howland not fully committing to zone

A day after turning his personal history on its head and employing a 2-3 zone defense in a 72-70 win over Arizona State on Thursday, UCLA coach Ben Howland reiterated it was not part of a grand conspiracy or a wholesale change in his basketball strategy.

But UCLA fans are happy to know the Bruins have added it to their repertoire as they prepare for today's matchup with struggling Arizona.

"We may use it again," Howland said during a conference call Friday. "We may use it (today). But I honestly had no plans to use the zone going into the game. I did see the first 15 minutes of our game, and the zone definitely helped us and against certain teams we'll use it again."

Traditional Pac-10 powerhouses UCLA and Arizona have fallen on tough times this season, with each team at 6-7, although the Wildcats have lost their lone conference game, to USC, on Thursday.

Each team has been forced to tinker with its system.

In the Bruins' case, that means an upheaval to Howland's traditional man-to-man defense.

Howland, however, quickly shot down the notion Arizona State simply was shell-shocked against UCLA's zone. He simply felt his team executed well.

"They've seen plenty of zone, I think our guys did a good job in it," he said. "Eventually they started to attack it better. I'm just glad it gave us a lift when we went to it."

The Bruins moved into the zone defense midway through the first half as the Sun Devils were executing precision perimeter passing and seemed to be a step ahead of UCLA. The player seemingly most affected by the switch was Arizona State's Rihards Kuksiks, who had 15 points in the first half and zero in the second.

UCLA senior guard Michael Roll said the team did not devote much practice time to the new defense, but the players were committed to being vocal on the floor.

"We kind of know where everyone is at all times," Roll said. "They ran Kuksiks corner to corner, but we were talking about where he was if he was cutting middle. We knew where all their shooters were and we got out on them."

Heating up?

UCLA senior forward Nikola Dragovic credited the extra time he's been able to put in the gym during the winter break for spurring his recent hot streak. He has increased his scoring average by nearly two points per game over the last three games.

After scoring just 63 points in UCLA's first eight games - with a low point coming on an 0-for-9, zero-point performance in a 72-54 loss to Mississippi State on Dec. 12 - Dragovic has averaged 17 points per game in the team's three-game winning streak.

He also said, though, his off-the-court distractions are now fully past him and he's been able to concentrate on basketball.

"It felt like old times," Dragovic said of his 23-point outburst against Arizona State. "It felt good, (like) last year, the Pac-10. These past two years I had problems in the same area of the year. But (it's) the new year, everything settled down and I have it out of my mind."

Keefe returns

Senior forward James Keefe, playing his first game since dislocating his shoulder against New Mexico State, contributed 12 minutes and missed his only shot attempt but he did have two blocks and two rebounds.

"He's limited by how many minutes he can play and how many in a row he can play," Howland said. "It was good to have him back. He had no problems, he was good today."

Hoping for Honeycutt

Fans clamoring for more of Tyler Honeycutt on Thursday night were missing a key bit of information: Howland told the media Friday that Honeycutt was sick and was limited in his minutes. He played just 11 minutes against Arizona State after 27 minutes against Delaware State on Dec. 27.

Honeycutt (Sylmar High) made his presence known in the zone defense, though, and had a beautiful assist to a cutting Reeves Nelson for an easy basket during the Bruins' run.

"He had a little bit of a flu yesterday, and he still has a little bit of that today," Howland said. "He missed the entire summer and a few weeks of practice, (but) he's doing a good job."